People of Konoha
by haha20126
Summary: Obviously, like the title said, it's a story about the people of Konoha. It's mostly a SasSaku story but it has other ships in it too. Hope you really like it! And please R&R! I would really apreciate it...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, I really don't expect a lot of reviews,(or any at all...) But some would be appreciated, if you don't mind. I just want to know if you people are still alive out there and reading. This is my first fanfic so any type of criticism is welcome. Thanks!

Naruto not mine.

Chapter One-

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, but unfortunately squad 7 had training today. Even if the weather was beautiful, the sun's rays were beaming with heat. Heat and Intense training didn't mix together very well.

After 4 hours straight of training in the forest, Sakura, Naruto, and a very tired Uchiha sat down under the shady tree.

"Lunch time!", Kakashi sensei called.

Everyone was relived and opened their boxed lunches Kakashi had prepared for them. While reading his favorite book 'Itcha Itcha Paradise', he watched his students devour their lunches. He was proud of them. They trained hard everyday, improved themselves on missions, and worked best as a team.

After finishing their lunches, the trio and their sensei headed for the river. It was a pretty hot day and Sakura splashed her delicate face with water. The cool water on her warm face felt really good. Naruto watched Sakura's every move by the river. Since he did have a major crush on her, he couldn't help it! Sakura noticed she was being watched by Naruto.

"Naruto! Do you mind?", she yelled. The blonde just turned his head away quickly and blushed a light shade of pink.

"Well Sakura...", he paused, "...you just look very pretty today...", he blushed even more.

"Whatever...", Sakura's response was cold and her voice was filled with uncaring.

But she couldn't help feeling sorry for Naruto. He was only being nice to her after all.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I guess the heat is going to my head.", she said apologetically. Naruto smiled an Sakura walked over next to Sasuke. The quiet Uchiha was sitting on a large rock starring into the open. Sakura went and sat next to him.

"Hey Sasuke...", Sakura greeted.

"Hn...", Sasuke's answer was barely a response. Sakura knew how Naruto felt a while ago.

"Um Sasuke, you're really good at training, I was wondering, well-", she was cut off by Sasuke.

"Sakura, no. Whatever your question is, the answer is NO."

His words hit sakura like a ton of bricks. She was only going to ask if he would train with her some more. She thought asking him would be useless, so he decided to just drop the subject.

The air was tense and full of teenage angst. Kakashi sighed heavily and ended the training session.

The three friends walked into town to explore. But things change. Sasuke decided to head home, Naruto wanted to go eat ramen at Ichiraku's, and Sakura was left alone. Poor Sakura, all she wanted to do was spend some time with her friends, but that didn't happen! She decided to go to Konoha Shopping Mall. She was browsing for dresses when she heard a familiar voice.

"Shika, what do you think of this one? Or maybe this one? C'mon, tell me what you really think!"

Sakura turned the corner ans saw Ino torturing Shikamaru. Ino seemed to be trying on dresses and trying to get an opinion from Shikamaru.

"Hey, billboard-brow! What's up?", said Ino.

"Nothing Ino-Pig...", Sakura responded. It was silent for a moment and the two girls burst into laughter.

"Hey, why are you here by yourself?", Ino asked

"Oh, um, well...", Sakura just studdered.

"Well, you can come hang with us!"

With that, Ino bought her dresses/outfits and walked out the mall. She was holding hands with Shikamaru and smiling happily. Sakura had almost forgotten that they were a couple now.

"So guys...", Sakura started to speak, "How long has it been since you two were going out?", she asked.

"Well,", said Ino, "It's been about 2 weeks." , she smiled happily at Shikamaru.

"Yeah, I still remember when I asked you out Ino..."

Flashback (Yay!)

Chouji, Ino, and Shikamaru were worn out from training that day. They decided to go to Ichiraku's for some ramen to re-fuel their energy. Obviously, Chouji agreed and practically ran to the little restaurant. Since Chouji has chosen to run ahead, Ino and Shikamaru walked together in silence. This was really awkward for Shikamaru because he noticed that Ino wasn't talking up a storm. Heck, by now she should have been blabbing on about how she loved Sasuke so much and how handsome he was. Finally he spoke up,

"Okay, tell me, what's wrong?", Ino looked up at him. She gave him the it's-none-of-your-business-so-don't-bother-asking look. Shikamaru stopped Ino and firmly asked her what was wrong and why she was suddenly so quiet.

After standing in the same spot for about five minutes Ino finally spoke, "Well, it's just that, Sasuke turned me down on a date." He looked at her with a perplexed face.

"Hasn't he turned you down on like a billion dates already? "

"Yeah..."

"So tell me, why is this one so different from the last?"

"Well I don't know. For some reason I just feel that asking Sasuke out is a bad idea.", Ino said with depression in her voice. Shikamaru was still stumped. Ino was a member of the 'Sasuke Fan-Club' ever since he could remember. So why did she not want to be with him anymore?

"Also,", Ino continued, "Sasuke also seemed angry at me, at least more than usual. He told me that I should give up and I would never have a chance with him.", Shikamaru still wondered why she was so upset. I mean, she always got turned down by Sasuke. Right?

"So...", Shikamaru still didn't get it. (psh... dumb boys! J/k)

"So, I don't think I should chase him anymore. When he told me all that stuff, he had this weird look in his eyes and his voice was so cold towards me.", said Ino. Shikamaru seemed to understand now. After years of trying to get pestering Ino away from him, Sasuke had finally did it. Ino had finally realized that Sasuke's not interested. Shikamaru wanted to make Ino feel better. After all, she was his team mate and friend.

"Hey, how about we go to the park instead of Ichiraku's? I'm not really in a mood for ramen anyway..."

Ino just shook her head and they went off. The park was quiet and peaceful. No one was there except a happy couple. They were under a big shady tree having a picnic.(mini a/n: omg hurry guys! Eat you food before the ants do! EVIL ANTS!) The two went over to the swings and Ino sat down on one of them. Shikamaru just stood beside her. It was silent for a while until Shikamaru spoke up.

"Okay Ino, how about you be happy again?"

No respond.

sigh "Troublesome woman...will anything make you happy?"

STILL no respond.

Shikamaru was getting tired of Ino being all sad and depressed. This wasn't like her at all.

"Come one Ino, don't be so blue, I'm sure that you'll find someone who likes you just the way you are.", he said reassuringly.

"What makes you think that? Shikamaru, you and I both know that I'm so stuck up sometimes and I can be such bitch to everyone...Who the hell would anyone want to put up with that?", she was getting upset even more.

"Don't say that, I mean you have really good qualities too."

"Like what?"

"Well for starters, you're a great ninja, you're also pretty, smart, beautiful, funny- ", he was caught off by Ino's look. He realized that the blonde had started to blush.

"You really think that way about me Shikamaru?", He didn't know what to say. Even if he was just trying to make Ino feel better, he couldn't help but blush himself. Ino took his look the wrong way and thought he was lying to her about what he said.

"Hmpf! Like I said before, who would ever like a person like me?"

Studdering, Shikamaru finally said what he wanted to say, "I-Ino, I-I would l-like you...", he was blushing furiously and Ino's face was turning into a tomato.

"You-you really feel that way about me Shikamaru?", asked Ino

"Well, yeah, I mean I never had a chance to tell you with training and you obsessing over Sas-", he was cut off by Ino. She had ran up to him and buried her face in his chest. She was on the verge of crying but desperately held her tears back.

"Ino...", the boy couldn't find the right words to say. Instead he just hugged her back. Ever since that fateful (and lovely 3) day, the two were practically inseparable.

End Flashback

Ino and Shikamaru looked into each other's eyes. They were just gazing at each other and just standing there.

"Um, well if you two are busy, I think I'm going to go home now." The couple didn't even notice Sakura leaving. They were just too lost in each other's eyes. Sakura just sighed and thought if she'd find someone special in her life like that. (I know I do! lol)

She was walking home when she spotted Sasuke turning the corner at the end of the street. She started running up to him.

"Hey Sasuke! Hey Sasuke, wait up!", she yelled. Sasuke stopped and turned around to find Sakura running after him.

'Oh no,', he thought, 'what does she want now?', he just sighed and turned to face Sakura.

"Hi Sasuke, what's up?"

"Nothing Sakura, I just went to the market to buy groceries." Sakura looked at Sasuke's hand. He was holding a bag of groceries. Most of the items were tomatoes.

"Well, I'm just going to go home now.", with that the Uchiha turned around and walked away. Sakura, feeling a little disappointed also did the same.

She opened the door to her house to find her parents at the table, eating dinner without her.

"Thanks for waiting for me...", she said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry honey, I thought you'd be home late today."

"You know what, I'm not that hungry anyway.", with that, Sakura went upstairs into her bed room. She closed the door behind her and let out a heavy sigh. She wondered why Sasuke was always so cold and away from people. Especially her. The thought of this deeply saddened her. She plopped down on her bed and let out another sigh. Thinking of Sasuke, her eyelids grew heavy and she slowly drifted off to sleep...

End! (Of chapter one...)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: naruto is not mine and pls review if you would

Chapter Two

The sun's rays shone brightly through the curtains of Uchiha Sasuke. His face cringed that the light and his face met with each other. One thing we all knew was that he _hated_ mornings. And that was a fact. His eyes slowly opened and sat up gently. He mumbled to himself while he looked out the window. He saw some children playing out in the streets of Konoha. This brought memories back to him when he was a just a kid..

Flashback

Young little Sasuke was sitting by himself on the swings on the school playground. Everyone ignored him and no one wanted to play any games with him. He just sat on swings looking at his own two feet thinking, 'Why doesn't anybody want to play with me? Did I do something wrong?' He observed the school playground and saw his fellow classmates having a fun time with everyone else. In the pit of his stomach, he had a weird feeling he couldn't describe, a feeling that he wanted to belong and have what others had. This feeling was called loneliness and jealousy. He was lonely because no one wanted to keep him company and he was jealous because he wanted to be just like the other kids.

It was quiet for a while. All he could hear was the laughter of the other children and the teachers talking. Then, suddenly, he heard scratchy footsteps come up to him. He looked up to see a little pink haired girl smiling at him. She was wearing a white sun dress, with little daisy prints on the bottom, and yellow sandals. There was and awkward silence until she spoke up.

"Hi.", she said

"Um, hi...", Sasuke just stared at her intently. Why was she talking to him? Was she making fun of him in some unknown way? Or did she just want something from him? He had to ask.

"Is there something that you want?"

"Well, of course silly, I want to play a game with you.", Sasuke had finally gotten his wish. Somebody wanted to keep him company and be his friend. But was this really real? Or was this some joke his class mate was playing on him?

"Y-you really want to play with me?"

"Yeah...", Sasuke didn't believe what he was hearing.

"No, and it's not nice to joke around with things like that. It hurts their feelings.", he said firmly.

Sakura, just stunned with what she just heard, couldn't believe her ears. Why would she joke around with things like that. Like Sasuke said, it hurts other people's feelings.

"Why would you think I'm joking Sasuke? All I want to be is your friend. Please?", said Sakura.

Sasuke let out a slight gasp. How did she even know his name? He never met the girl, and this was the first time he ever seen her.

"How do you know my name? I mean, I don't even know yours...", he said dryly.

"Well, I know your name because I'm in one of your classes silly and my name is Haruno Sakura."

Sasuke didn't like the fact that she kept calling him silly. Nothing was silly about Uchiha Sasuke. Nothing.

"Well that's a dumb name, being named after a cherry blossom...", he said carelessly.

Sakura was getting upset. I mean, what the heck was this guy's problem? First he thought she was kidding about becoming her friend and now he thinks that she has a dumb name. That's great... Sasuke spoke again, "Finally, someone wants to be my friend and it has to be you, I think I'd rather be friends with Uzamaki Naruto..."

Now Sakura was getting really mad. Especially she was friends with Naruto in the first place...

"Look buddy, I don't know what you're problem is-", she was cut off by Sasuke.

"My problem is you, now please leave me alone...", he just turned his head in an opposite direction and looked at his feet.

Sakura was angered by Sasuke's responses and stormed off walking. Sadly, she couldn't help it and walked back toward Sasuke. She felt bad for him because no one wanted to be his friend. She could see why that he might be a little cold towards people. She walked up to him and sat on the swing next to him. Sasuke just looked up at Sakura and continued to ignore her. Even though Sasuke intentionally always ignored Sakura, Sakura never stopped caring for the lonely Uchiha.

End Flashback

Thinking of this, Sasuke still continued to look out his window. The wind was coming in, and the cold breeze wisped through his hair. He was glad Kakashi gave them the day off today. He wanted it all to himself.

Slowly getting out of bed, he headed towards his bathroom to wash up. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, and got dressed. He sighed to himself and gazed at his own reflection in the mirror. Disappointment ran through his mind. 'Why am I such a failure?', he thought, 'I can't even be placed on a decent team. No, I have to be stuck with a girl who likes to stalk me and an egotistic maniac who never shuts the hell up.' Sighing again, he went downstairs to eat some breakfast. He popped some bread into the toaster and poured himself a glass of orange juice. The toaster ticked and the toast popped out. He sat down at his table and began to eat. (Such a boring morning, I know...)

Somewhere, out there in Konoha, a very shy Hyuuga Hinata was standing in front of her mirror. She was practicing what to say to Naruto when she saw him today. Hinata had desperately wanted to go to the Fall Festival with Naruto, but was too shy to even ask him.

"Um, er, Naruto, I-I w-as wondering um...", she shook her head out of disbelief. How was she ever going to sum up the courage to ask Naruto? She decided to try practicing again.

"N-Naruto, the Fall Festival I-is coming up and I, um, wanted to ask y-you if you would wanted to go with me?", with just a few studders, she finally managed to get out what she wanted to say. Now all she had to do was ask Naruto and not her reflection in the mirror. She gulped and gathered up all of her strength and scurried out the door.

Hinata spotted Naruto eating ramen at Ichiraku's. She was still very nervous and stood behind a lamppost. Watching Naruto chow down on his second bowl of ramen, she was beginning to back off on her plan to ask Naruto. She just wasn't brave enough...

Just then, Hinata spotted Sakura walking up to her out of the corner of her eye.

"Good morning Hinata!", she cheerfully greeted.

"Oh, hello Sakura..."

"Hey Hinata, why are you standing behind a lamppost?" Hinata blushed profusely when Sakura had asked that question. She didn't want to let Sakura know that she liked Naruto and wanted to ask him to the festival, but she was her friend and couldn't keep secrets from her. That wasn't right.

As Hinata was trying to find an answer to Sakura's question, Sakura noticed Naruto eating ramen at Ichiraku's.

"Hinata,", Sakura spoke. The timid Hyuuga looked up at Sakura. "does you hiding behind a lamppost involve Naruto in any way?"

Hinata's cheeks were turning bright red. Sakura had guessed it. She liked Naruto.

"Um, maybe? I mean, yes...", she answered in almost a whisper.

"Hinata, you can tell me these things, you don't have to be embarrassed.", Hinata was glad that was Sakura's answer and nothing else.

"So, Miss Hyuuga? Why are you hiding from Naruto?", Sakura said with a very sly tone.

"Well, um, it's just that, I wanted to ask Naruto if he wanted to go with me to the Fall Festival next week."

"Aw! That's so cute Hinata!"

Hinata blushed even more.

"Hinata, don't be afraid to ask him. I'm very sure he'll say yes to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there's no way he can possibly say no to you. It's just a feeling that I have. Now get your Hyuuga butt up to Naruto and ask him."

Hinata jumped slightly from Sakura's orders. She gulped again and started taking little steps up to Naruto. Little by little, Hinata started shaking even more and more. What if she had a nervous breakdown or an anxiety attack in front of Naruto? Then he would never want to go anywhere with her, no longer the Fall Festival. But she still had to try.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sakura behind the lamppost cheering her on. She just smiled and continued walking. After what seemed like forever, Hinata had finally made it up to Naruto. He had just finished what seemed like his fourth bowl of ramen and looked like he still wanted some more.

Hinata didn't say anything for awhile. She just stood next to Naruto quietly twiddling her fingers. Naruto had finally noticed her.

"Hinata!", he screamed

The poor Hyuuga was surprised by his unexpected yell and accidentally fell to the ground from shock. Naruto felt really bad of what he had just did and helped her up.

"I'm really sorry Hinata. How about I buy you some ramen to make it up to you?"

Hinata had just nodded her head and Naruto ordered two more bowls of ramen. It was quiet while they both waited for their food to come. Naruto was the first one to speak.

"Hey Hinata, do you have any training today?"

She just shook her head no and said, "Our sensei said we could have to day off today, but we have to train extra hard tomorrow."

"Well, seems like a fair deal to me." Hinata just nodded her head with agreement. Finally, the cook came with Naruto's and Hinata's bowls of ramen. Naruto just smacked his lips and began slurping the noodles.

Hinata giggled silently to herself while watching the hyper active ninja devour his ramen. She thought of how cute he was when he ate and looked like a little kid eating his candy, but instead ramen.

"Hey Hinata? Are you not hungry? You haven't even touched your ramen." Hinata looked down at her bowl. She wasn't that hungry but she didn't want to make Naruto feel bad. She quickly started slurping the noodles into her mouth. Naruto smiled. Hinata smiled too, while slurping up a noodle. She would give anything to see Naruto smile at her like that. So what if she gains a pound from eating extra breakfast? As long it made Naruto happy, she was happy.

After the two ninja were finished eating their ramen, they both got up and left the stand. Naruto let out a big yawn and stretched his arms in the air. Hinata giggled silently.

"Hm? Hinata what's so funny?" She abruptly stopped laughing and blushed a rosy shade of pink.

"Erm, nothing.."

"Well, it was fun having ramen with you Hinata, but I gotta get going." Naruto turned around the opposite direction and started walking away.

"N-Naruto, wait!" The fox boy stopped in his tracks and faced the shy girl. That was the loudest he'd ever heard Hinata scream.

"Yes, Hinata?"

"I-I, um, just, um...", she couldn't get the words to come out of her mouth.

"Did you want something, Hinata?"

"I-I just w-wanted to know if...", her sentence started to trail away.

"You just wanted to know what?"

"If um, you wanted to erm..."

"Hinata, you don't have to be too embarrassed or too shy to ask me anything. Just spit it out."

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to go with me to the Fall Festival!", she said it so fast that she practically screamed it by accident. She cupped her mouth quicky and started to blush like there was no tomorrow. Naruto just stared at her in amazement. Why was this a hard question to ask he thought? Unknowingly, Naruto had started to blush himself.

"Hinata, I-", he was caught off be Hinata.

"Naruto, I understand if you don't want to go with me. It's okay." She started to slowly walk away.

"Hinata wait!", she stopped in her tracks.

"I, um, erm...", Naruto had started to studder with his words now. "I would love to go with you to the Fall Festival." Hinata has started to smile shyly and blushed a shade of red.

"Um, Hinata?" She looked up at him.

"Do you want to hang out together for the rest of the day? You know, as just friends?"

'Just friends...',Hinata thought. She was highly disappointed by what Naruto had just said, but she was still glad he had invited her to hang out with him for the rest of the day. She said yes and they walked off together down the streets of Konoha.

Somewhere, behind a lamppost, Sakura was giggling to herself, and she was so proud of Hinata. She was so brave to go up to Naruto like that and ask him to the festival. Now only if she was lucky enough to go to the festival with the guy she dreamt of.


End file.
